


and in this light

by larryink (blynrin)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Cats, Christmas AU, Coming Out, Fluff, Homeless AU, Homeless Louis, M/M, Prince Harry - Freeform, Royal Harry, Runaway Harry, bc i cant have a fic without fluff sometimes, i guess ?, so many cats there's like thirty to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 09:53:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3063446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blynrin/pseuds/larryink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>louis turns around and quirks a brow. "what?"</i>
</p><p>  <i>"my name. it's harry." he stands up and gathers his belongings, the blanket and a fancy looking bag that has a tear in the side. the boy- harry, louis corrects himself- looks up at louis through his fringe and offers a small smile. "what's yours?"</i></p><p>  <i>he returns the smile. "louis. now c'mon, let's get out of the cold."</i></p><p> </p><p>  -harry is a runaway prince and louis has never celebrated christmas-</p>
            </blockquote>





	and in this light

**Author's Note:**

> this is my second fic for the holiday cheer fic challenge and my elements were royalty, angst, and first christmas 
> 
> also i'd like to make a big shoutout to my betas emma and neam because they are wonderful and everything good in the world :)
> 
> title taken from the 1975's _fallingforyou_

there's a boy sleeping up ahead, curly hair sticking out from his beanie and eyes closed. he's laying up against a brick building in an alleyway, so louis _assumes_ he's asleep. however, he also hasn't moved or twitched or done anything else for the past ten minutes, so he could be dead. 

louis walks toward him, and he realizes that the blanket covering him is really nice, if a little dirty. that goes for the rest of his clothes too. _a runaway from a rich family, maybe?_ he thinks, prodding the boy with the toe of his boot. "hey, kid, you shouldn't be sleeping here," he says, hoping he'll wake up. 

louis kicks lightly at his leg and the boy's eyes open and widen and then he's looking around and up at louis and _wow his eyes are really green_. he repeats what he'd said. 

blinking against the snow falling into his eyes in confusion, the boy grips the blanket tighter and stays quiet. louis rolls his eyes. "c'mon, up you get. this is a dangerous place to be sleeping, you'll be killed if you stay the night. and it's much too cold for street kids, why aren't you in a shelter?"

"didn't really know where they were..." the boy replies, and his voice is very deep, a little raspy with sleep. 

definitely a rich kid runaway, then. louis was right. "well they're all filled up for the night now. follow me, i'll help you out."

the boy squints at him. "and why should i trust you?" he asks, and louis rolls his eyes. 

"listen, i'm glad you're at least trying to watch out for yourself, but i'm offering you a semi-warm place to bunk so you're not out in the snow. take the offer, kid." louis turns to start walking away, when the boy speaks up. 

"harry."

louis turns around and quirks a brow. "what?"

"my name. it's harry." he stands up and gathers his belongings, the blanket and a fancy looking bag that has a tear in the side. the boy- harry, louis corrects himself- looks up at louis through his fringe and offers a small smile. "what's yours?"

he returns the smile. "louis. now c'mon, let's get out of the cold."

\---

it takes them half an hour to get to the hut. ("it's not actually a hut," louis says on the walk there. "more like a small house? but everyone knows it as the hut because that's what's graffitied on the side of the building. the name just stuck," he explains) by that time it's properly snowing, almost a blizzard around them. 

he knocks on the door repeatedly until he hears footsteps approaching, then steps back and smiles at harry. the door opens and a man stands there, dark hair tucked under a beanie and brown eyes rimmed red. "louis?" he asks, cocking his head. his eyes flit to the boy next to him and narrow. "who's this?"

"some runaway i found in an alley, his name is harry. you gonna let us in, zayn, or are we supposed to freeze out here?" zayn stares at the two of them before sighing and stepping aside. 

"hurry up, then. you're gonna let all the warm air out." he grins when louis snorts. 

"the only thing i'll be letting out is the thirty cats you've let the kids take in," he replies, leading harry in by a hand on his elbow. 

the curly haired boy stares around the entryway with wide eyes, taking in the cracks in the wall and the one boarded up window. there's a space heater on in the corner, and louis knows there's about three more throughout the rest of the building to help keep it warm. there's a stairwell leading up, and a doorway that louis knows leads to the kitchen and living space. zayn takes them that way. 

"so, harry, where are you from?" zayn asks as they enter the livingroom. there's two large couches taking up the far wall and a bookshelf overflowing with ruined books- well loved, louis corrects himself- placed between them. another space heater is plugged into an unprotected outlet next to them. 

harry glances over at louis. his eyes are drooping and there's a frown on his face. he looks exhausted. 

louis shrugs at him. he's curious too, about where this boy came from and why he's out on the streets the day before christmas eve. 

instead of answering, though, harry shakes his head and looks down as a gray cat starts winding itself around his legs. "hey there kitty," he murmurs and crouches down to start petting it. 

louis looks over at zayn, the dark skinned man just shrugging. "okay, i won't ask again." he turns toward louis. 

"all the guest beds upstairs are taken. you're welcome to stay the night, lou, but you'll have to sleep down here, sorry." louis knows zayn usually sleeps on the couch downstairs if liam or he aren't there, because he doesn't sleep as deeply unless he's in a bed and it's easier to hear any knocking on the doors when you're closer to them. on the off chance that all three of them are here at one time, they play rock-paper-scissors to see who's on the couches that night and who gets the bed upstairs.

louis usually loses on purpose, because he doesn't sleep much anyway. 

he nods at the other man. "that's fine, it's better than the pavement. go to sleep, i'll answer the door if anyone knocks. 'night, zayn." he turns to look at harry and smiles when he sees him sitting on the floor cradling the cat in his arms, who's purring up a storm. "hey, kid. let's get you settled, yeah?"

harry doesn't argue when louis helps him up from the floor, but he doesn't put the cat down. and to be honest, the cat seems pretty content in his arms anyway. 

they each take a couch, harry laying with the cat on one while louis putters around and stalls going to sleep. he's laying down but staring at the doorway, the room dimly lit with the light from the lamp in the kitchen. 

he gets up at one point to grab a glass of water and a novel off of the bookshelf by his feet, noticing harry's blanket on the floor by his bag at the head of the couch he's on. louis frowns and picks it up to drape it over him, petting the cat's soft fur where it lays by harry's shoulder. 

he looks so much younger when he's asleep, louis notices. 

stepping away from the couch, louis returns to his own opposite harry's and yawns, eyes watering from the force of it. he's usually not this tired, but it's been a constant back and forth from one side of town to the other for days that's leaving him exhausted. 

it's when his eyes stay closed longer than usual after each blink that he thinks he should probably lay down and go to sleep, since there's no point trying to stay awake at this point. 

he's finally laying down and on the verge of sleep when a meow and a heavy weight settling on his chest makes him open his eyes. "really, cat?" he asks it in a groggy voice. it just meows again and starts purring. louis would kick it to the floor, but he knows what it's like to sleep on the ground. he'll let it go, just this once.

**Author's Note:**

> hmu on tumblr @zaynink
> 
> this fic will either have one or two more chapters depending on how long the second one turns out to be x


End file.
